Agitation will not be tolerated during poll process: Musharraf

Musharraf says no one will be allowed to disrupt the forthcoming general election and asserted that "agitation in the name of politics" would not be tolerated during the poll process.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said that no one will be allowed to disrupt the forthcoming general election and asserted that "agitation in the name of politics" would not be tolerated during the poll process.

Addressing a meeting of governors and caretaker chief ministers of the four provinces, Musharraf directed them to take steps to ensure that the people could "fully participate in elections and cast their vote for whichever political party they preferred".

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His comments came amidst efforts by former premier Nawaz Sharif to drum up support for a call given by the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement to boycott the January 8 parliamentary polls. Sharif plans to meet his rival and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto next week to convince her to join the boycott.

Musharraf was quoted by state-run APP news agency as saying "agitation in the name of politics must not be tolerated so that the Pakistani nation is facilitated to fully participate in elections and cast their vote for whichever political party they preferred".

He said that three issues were important and required the full and undiluted attention of the governors and chief ministers.

"First and foremost among them was fair, free and transparent elections and the second was the maintenance of law and order to facilitate the holding of free, fair and transparent elections," he said.